Yunkai, also called the Yellow City,[1] is one of the Slaver Cities on the eastern coast of Slaver's Bay in central Essos. Ruled by the Wise Masters, Yunkai's main export is bed slaves.[2] It is said to be a disreputable place.[3] Yunkai is also referred to as the queen of cities,[2] a title also claimed by Qarth.[4]

The Yunkish emblem is a variation on the harpy of Old Ghis: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle and a scorpion's tail. Its talons grasp a whip and an iron collar.[2]

City

Location

Yunkai is located on Slaver's Bay.[5][6] One hundred leagues to the south, following the old Ghiscari coastal road, is Astapor and about fifty leagues – at least a hundred and sixty-three miles[7] – to the north Meereen. Well mounted travellers, when riding hard, can reach Yunkai from Astapor in six days.[8] To the southwest of Yunkai is the island Yaros.[6]

Three leagues south of Yunkai lies a birchwood forest near a slanting sandstone ridge.[2]

The highborn warriors of Yunkai wear linen skirts and tunics dyed a deep yellow and cloaks sewn with copper disks. They oil their hair and twist it into towers and shapes, and wear tall helms to preserve the stylings.[2] The nobility wear fringed tokars,[2] a sign of power, as they do in Astapor and Meereen.

The Yunkai'i ride horses and camels.[2] The city's walls are defended by crossbowmen and slingers.[2]

Economy

Yunkai is known for training bed slaves who are taught the way of the seven sighs and the sixteen seats of pleasure.[2] Dancers are trained to dance since are old enough to walk, and are an expert in all the erotic arts as well.[4] In Yunkai, as in Meereen, eunuchs are made by only cutting the testicles off[11] In Yunkai slave swordsmen are cheaper than the swords they use.[11]

Coins from Yunkai include the golden marks, brightly shining coins stamped with a stepped pyramid on one side and the harpy of Ghis on the other.[2]

History

Yunkai was a colony of the Old Empire of Ghis. Yunkai survived the destruction of Old Ghis at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, and was subsequently conquered by the Valyrians, who learned slavery from the conquered Ghiscari and used slaves to expand their empire.[12] After the Doom of Valyria and the fall of the Freehold, the Ghiscari of Slaver's Bay took control of the slave trade.[3] During the centuries that followed, Yunkai and her sister cities Meereen and Astapor were the linchpins of the slave trade.[4]

A Triarch of Volantis named Vogarro purchased a pleasure slave trained in the seven sighs in Yunkai. Vogarro fell in love with her, freed her, and married her, raising a great scandal. When Vogarro died his widow remained in Volantis, where she still continues to wield power.[13]

Daenerys defeats the city in a battle near Yunkai, turning the Second Sons and the Stormcrows in their service to her side.[2] After Yunkai's surrender and the liberation of all slaves in the city, Daenerys decides not to sack the city but instead to march further towards Meereen.[7] After having conquered Meereen, Daenerys receives an envoy from Astapor, Lord Ghael, who informs Daenerys that Cleon, the new king in Astapor, desires an alliance between Meereen and Astapor against Yunkai.[15]

Yunkai besieges Astapor in an effort to topple the regime that had come into power after Daenerys had sacked that city.[16] Prince Quentyn Martell, one of the Windblown, witnesses the siege of Astapor and its sacking.[8]

The Yunkish army is commanded by squabbling, wealthy lordlings[N 1] who have brought slave hosts of various sizes. Yurkhaz zo Yunzak has the supreme command of the Yunkishmen.[8] While some such as Yezzan zo Qaggaz favor peace with Meereen, most of Yunkai'i want to attack the city, despite the Volantenes not having arrived yet.[18] The Second Sons defect from Daenerys to the Yunkai'i.[19]

Daenerys makes peace with Yunkai and exchanges hostages.[20] Yunkish envoys attend the reopening of Meereen's fighting pits, but Yurkhaz is killed[21] in the turmoil at the Great Pit of Daznak after Dany disappears atop Drogon.[22] The Yunkai'i, now led by a council of masters, kill three hostages and demand that King Hizdahr zo Loraq have the queen's dragons killed.[21] Yezzan has the most support for supreme command but he then dies of the pale mare. The Wise Masters rotate the supreme command amongst themselves with the generals taking a turn each day.[21] They provide the Windblown, and presumably their other sellsword companies, with a chart for the rotation.[23]

Quotes

Ancient and glorious is Yunkai, the queen of cities. Our walls are strong, our nobles proud and fierce, our common folk without fear. Ours is the blood of ancient Ghis, whose empire was old when Valyria was yet a squalling child.[2]

Of Yunkai, the yellow city, little needs be said, for it is a most disreputable place. The men who rule it, calling themselves the Wise Masters, are steeped in corruption, selling bed slaves and boy-whores and worse.[3]